I’m so grateful that my introduction to the post-college working world was in small community journalism. I’ve always thought of it as a master’s in storytelling I was paid for. My time working at daily and weekly Vermont newspapers gave me a keen interest in just about everything, to what it looks like beneath the town’s streets to why Stowe, Vermont has so many custom license plates. I’ve been the only attendee at a church’s first same-sex marriage, hung out with rocker Todd Rundgren, been chased through the woods at a house fire, and wrote about what it was like to play on stage with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. My experiences as a journalist taught me to triple-check my facts and especially my figures, ask hard questions with compassion, always bring an old-fashioned No. 2 pencil because ink freezes at the scene of a fire or crime, and that every story is front page and above the fold to someone. The accountability that comes from reporting the news in my hometown will be with me throughout my career, and I’m eternally thankful for the managers and editors who shaped me and taught me and those who allowed me to tell their stories.

“Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”

~ Mary Oliver